


Under the Willow Tree

by jmtorres



Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Talking Animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-23
Updated: 2010-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-14 00:26:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/143306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jmtorres/pseuds/jmtorres
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moonlight questions a kitten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Willow Tree

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarkDanc3r](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkDanc3r/gifts).



Moonlight woke before her lady did, in the early morning when the rain eased up and the dripping from the sheltering willow's leaves shifted in frequency from a steady patter to a slow drip and finally tapered off into muffled quiet. Moonlight's ears twitched, straining for sound, but the wet leaves hanging down around them curtained them thickly. She took a couple of steps away from the willow's trunk and nosed the leaves apart. It wasn't dawn yet, and the cold, grey-violet sky promised fog and probably more storms today.

Something furry brushed up against Moonlight's hoof. She lifted it lightly, stepping to the side so she could turn and look down. It was the kitten who had wandered in the night before, ahead of the woman. The kitten said, _You shouldn't go out before the sun comes up, or you'll not see your lady again._

Oh, so it was that kind of tree, thought Moonlight. Willows didn't grow on this route--apples, yes, and sometimes her lady would let her eat one or two of them from the trees when they hung heavy and red, but willows she hadn't seen this way before. She took a nibble of a long willow leaf, testing, and barely even needed the kitten's admonishment: _Oughtn't do that if you don't want to be a very unusual horse._ The rainwater was clean and common, but the leaf itself was tangy in a strange way, and Moonlight spat it out.

She bent her head and sniffed at the kitten, who, aside from smelling like kitten, smelled strongly of her lady, having curled up next to her for the night. It must be nice to be small enough to do that. The kitten sniffed back, his tiny nose just barely touching Moonlight, twitching between her nostrils. Moonlight lipped, catching the kitten under the chin. He jerked back with a small mew of affront. Moonlight snickered. _What do you know about it, little cat?_ she asked.

The kitten sniffed disdainfully and turned as if to stalk off--except that instead of moving away, he only waved his tail in Moonlight's face. Moonlight lifted her head out of range and the kitten looked over his shoulder and said, _I'm not just_ a _cat. I'm_ the _cat._

 _The King of Cats?_ Moonlight asked doubtfully. _A little scrap like you?_ It was difficult for Moonlight to judge cat sizes and ages--he was definitely smaller than the barn cats back at the palace but who was to say this kitten's full growth would be as big as those muscled hunters? Perhaps he was half-grown or more already. He had the paws of a much larger cat, though, which surely meant he had a lot of growing left to do. _Are you even weaned yet?_

The kitten, despite being much lower to the ground, appeared to be looking down his nose at Moonlight. _Not the King of Cats. The God of Cats._

 _Oh._ Moonlight bent to sniff him again. He still smelled mostly like a cat, and like her lady. It was true that her lady occasionally had the burnt-magical god-touched smell about her, like when she'd come out of the city in the desert with the boy they rode with often now, but her lady wasn't a god, only a god's chosen. _You don't smell like a god. You're too much here, not half-here half-there like the woman,_ Moonlight told the kitten. The woman was a god of human women and sometimes other things in other forms, and hadn't tried to hide it.

 _She was just visiting,_ the kitten said. _I'm staying._

Moonlight thought about that. _What for?_ she asked, because most cats she'd met were friendly but not all of them were nice, and this one had a haughty streak. A playful cat who liked to bat your tail was one thing--annoying, but not so terrible if he also earned his keep by mousing, and it was always the best mousers who wanted to play with your tail, as if they couldn't be still even with no prey to occupy them--but a playful god-cat might be a worrisome thing.

 _To keep your lady out of too much trouble,_ said the kitten. _Not all of it, mind, she's meant to solve some troubles herself, but she's young yet and the Goddess wants her looked after._

A kitten, calling her lady young? Even a god-kitten, even if her lady was young as humans counted things. Moonlight snickered a little and bent to nudge the kitten with her nose. The kitten leaned into her, his whole small weight a reply nudge. _Can you do god things if you don't smell like a god?_ she asked, because it was good to know how much help to expect.

 _Mostly not,_ said the kitten with a sigh. _I can do the things all cats can do, of course, like walking sideways into locked places and sniffing out magic, but I am not allowed to do many god things. Still, I am very smart and that should be enough on its own._

Moonlight kindly did not tell the kitten that all cats thought they were very smart, because she had decided that she liked him and that an extra pair of eyes looking after her lady couldn't hurt. Moonlight, after all, couldn't guard her lady all the time, in all the places she went, but a kitten could fit indoors much more neatly. _If something happens that is too big for you, you can always come get me and I'll kick it,_ Moonlight offered.

 _Thank you,_ said the kitten. _I shall keep that in mind._

Later on when the sunlight broke through the curtain of leaves and woke their lady, she was very baffled to find her new kitten curled up her horse's back. "How did you get up there?" she asked, her jaw cracking on a yawn.

 _He's a god-kitten, he walked sideways,_ said Moonlight.

 _We're under a cross-roads willow, I went away and came back,_ said the kitten.

Their lady did not seem to hear either reply, but she stroked Moonlight's mane with one hand and scratched behind the kitten's ears with the other and said, "Well, I'm glad you've decided to be friends. Who wants breakfast?"

**Author's Note:**

> [Relevant imagery.](http://squee.icanhascheezburger.com/2011/11/22/cute-animals-cowlicks-were-bad/)


End file.
